Month: November 2014

Following on from this post, you might have correctly guessed that my music genre of choice is rock and that I have more than a passing interest in the bands and musicians of that era. The book has been out for quite a while but I only just discovered and read it recently.

Bobbie Jean Brown was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and her stunning natural beauty helped her to win beauty pageants and become a model. She ended up in LA during the height of the Glam Rock/Rock movement (think back to Motley Crue crusing the Sunset strip in a limo. With a pool in the back. Surrounded by women. And champagne and drugs….yeah, you’ve got the idea!). Bobbie did modelling and also found fame by starring in rock music videos (most famous for Warrant’s Cherry Pie). All of Hollywood was teeming with gorgeous, successful long haired rock gods during this time and Bobbie Brown was the woman who many of these rock stars wanted to get with. It’s really not difficult to see why.

Front of that queue was Warrant’s lead singer, Jani Lane who was already head over heels with Bobbie after seeing her in another video. Jani Lane and Tommy Lee of Motley Crue were both after Bobbie and it was a contest to see who got there first. Jani did after getting Bobbie to star in one of Warrant’s videos, and he sealed the deal by marrying Bobbie and getting her pregnant with their daughter, Taylar Lane. However, Jani soon succumbed to drink and also cheated on his wife, so next in line was Tommy Lee. He and Bobbie seemed to genuinely have a good time together and were engaged to be married. But whenever they argued, Tommy Lee went running to Bobbie’s rival Pamela Anderson, to make Bobbie jealous. This worked several times until he was violent towards Bobbie in front of her daughter Taylar. Bobbie left him this time and meant it. He paid her back by marrying Pamela Anderson mere days later on a beach.

Pamela Anderson was on the scene at the same time as Bobbie. They had much in common and might even look inter-changeable to some people. BUT, that’s where the similarity ends. Bobbie was still open, friendly and warm at a time when Pamela was guarded, cunning and smart. Pamela made an open play for Tommy Lee, right in front of Bobbie when she was all too aware of Bobbie & Tommy Lee’s relationship status. There are 2 sides to every story, sure…..but the facts speak loud and clear. Pamela married a man she hadn’t had a relationship with and barely knew. The same man who 4 days earlier had just come out of a long term relationship. I know which lady comes off looking better in this scenario – and it isn’t Pamela.

I don’t want to give too much of the book away but what I am trying to highlight is that yes, Bobbie has been around. Is it her fault? Yes, some of it. BUT whenever she has been with a guy, she has been a one guy woman and hasn’t slept around. She wanted her marriage to work, she wanted to have a secure, loving relationship with Tommy Lee. The men in her life always seemed to have other ideas.

She was approached by so many rockers of the day – Vince Neil, Sebastian Bach, Dave Navarro, Bret Michaels – they all wanted a piece of Cherry Pie. Most of them had girlfriends and wives at the time but seemed to think that they had a god given right to sleep around and treat women like Bobbie as trophies. What they didn’t bank on was her unbreakable spirit, strength and street smarts. Bobbie had to learn quickly what an unforgiving town Hollywood is. Sometimes she didn’t do so well when she found herself homeless and addicted to drugs, but she always managed to do what was best for herself and her daughter in the end and get herself back on her feet.

The book contains many tales about the sordid, dark side of Hollywood. There are chapters featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kevin Costner. Bobbie doesn’t pull any punches. The book is written in a sincere voice though and is completely uncensored, making it highly entertaining. I did feel that the ending didn’t tell us where Bobbie is now, but I hear rumours of another book so maybe she was saving some of her story for that. I hope so. My only criticism of this book is that it was too short and I didn’t want it to end. I ended up really liking Bobbie and being glad that she’s still around in the entertainment industry now. I hope we hear a lot more from her.

My family and I travelled from Manchester to Orlando with you and back again this month. We almost booked with British Airways but they were £200 dearer so we booked with you. I can’t say that our experience was horrific or warrants a viral internet reaction. It was just…..crappy. I walked away feeling like I probably will never fly with you again.

Where do I begin? Okay how about waiting to board the plane? I am so used to hearing first and premium class invited to board first, then the disabled, then parents travelling with small children – I know that the last 2 need more time to get on board and get organised. Except the children part never happened. We were called up by row numbers meaning that we were one of the last families on board. We had already cleared security but as we walked down the tunnel to get on the plane, my family and I (husband and 20 month old toddler) were pulled aside as we struggled with 3 flight bags, blankets, coats and the baby. We were told to take everything electrical out of our luggage again – after already having done so. I was subjected to a search, despite having already passed through the metal detector. My husband and I had to pass the baby back and forth while we were asked to repeat procedures performed less than an hour before. By the time we FINALLY made it onto the aircraft, we were flustered, had things all over the place in wrong bags etc and we had very little time or space to get the 3 of us organised into our seats. The flight was okay – nothing special.

The return flight was dreadful. We had just got settled on board when someone came to us and we had to get out of our seats to get the boarding pass out as a staff member failed to scan it correctly and didn’t have one of us showing as being on board.

Then, my husband’s seat did not recline on a night flight when we had a toddler on our lap. The air hostess gave us some generic answer but couldn’t have actually cared less. We lay our son across us both and he fell to sleep. The family in front reclined their seats all the way and were the most fidgety family in Britain – each time they moved and bounced around (very frequent) they bashed my son with their seats because we had so little room for him to begin with. We could have booked an extra seat I guess….except he is under 2 and we couldn’t afford it. What we SHOULD have done was find the additional £200 from somewhere to fly with British Airways who strive to help families with little ones. Who, when you call to book, confirm that you AND your partner can sit together at the carrycot location – unlike you who said that my husband and I might not be seated together. On a 9 hour flight. With a baby. Genius.

In fact, all your ‘helpline’ wanted to do was sell us seats with extra legroom, instead of offering them outright. Virgin seemingly have no interest in helping families travelling with small children or making the experience any easier. The only saving grace was an air stewardess who let me sit in the jump seat for half an hour after I gave up my seat to my poor son so he could sleep without having a seat back smacked into his forehead. That air hostess was an absolute angel who took one look at me and our cramped area and knew I was having a nightmare. I didn’t sleep one wink during that night flight.

Your helpline was useless. There was no meal for our baby on the return flight, despite me having requested it via the same helpline who tried to sell me extras. I understand that everyone has a job to do and I understand that security is a serious issue, but we had already undergone substantial scrutiny previously. All of our electric devices were checked, our bags scanned, our buggy swabbed down. Why we were subjected to an additional check seconds before we stepped onto the plane is beyond me. No effort was made to help us get out stuff together afterwards.

See? Nothing too serious. Nothing dreadful. Just niggly little things that add up to a bad experience overall. We plan to go to Florida again some time in the future. This time, my son will be over 2 so we’ll need to find that extra money for the additional seat. And we will and I can guarantee one thing – it won’t be on a Virgin plane.

Here you’ll find……

.....anything random, topical, pretty or sparkly as and when it occurs in my life and when I think of it. If you are looking for hard hitting news and politics, check out my NEWS section.